Headlines

Eli Lake

Ansar al-Sharia’s role in Benghazi attack still a mystery

One U.S. intelligence contractor working on the investigation into the Benghazi attacks said, “We were not focused on these guys.” Militias like Ansar al-Sharia, this person said, might be analyzed and monitored, but they weren’t the focus of the analysts who were maintaining kill lists and monitoring the broader war against al Qaeda.

Today, the intelligence community has begun to reassess its view of Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi, in part because the attacks there included not only that group’s members but two other al-Qaeda-affiliated groups: al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Jamal network.

Unraveling Ansar al-Sharia, however, is one of the harder jobs today for U.S. intelligence analysts. The group itself has offered conflicting messages about its role in the Benghazi assault. On Sept. 12, a spokesman for the group said members of the organization participated in the attack, but also said it wasn’t sanctioned by the group’s leadership. In an interview from Sept. 18 with the BBC, Mohammad Ali al-Zahawi, the leader of Ansar al-Sharia in Benghazi, said his group was not involved in the attack. Then in mid-October, Ahmed Abu Khattala, a leader of an Islamist brigade affiliated at times with Ansar al-Sharia, said he was at the scene of the attack, though he denied participating in it.

White House: Just Because Ansar Al-Shariah Claimed Responsibility For The Attack, And In Fact Were Later Connected To the Attack, Doesn’t Mean You Should Think They Were Connected To The Attack.Aceof Spades HQ

— the name(s) of the group or groups,
— the HQ’s of the group or groups,
— the names of the individual participants,
— the names of the first born of the participants,
— or the names of the participants favorite snacks,

in order to.

a) beef up security in advance of the attack as we were warned we should do, or,
b) give the go ahead to send in everything needed to protect our people, once the attack was underway.

You don’t have to ask the people shooting at you who they are representing. You kill them.

The only reason this investigation is consuming, and wasting, so much attention, money, and labor on the part of everyone is because this Administration failed in their constitutional duty to do both of the above. And, clearly, any possible reason to have not done a), has absolutely nothing to do with not having done b).

There is no reason whatsoever that the people who failed to act and has stonewalled the public since on what happened, should be allowed to supervise the investigation of their failure.

Get rid of the whole kit and caboodle of them by voting Obama out tomorrow and let the new Romney administration sort out the mess they’ve left and clean it up.